I always find it's the humans that have to force the dogs to slow down for their own good, I think dogs would happily run themselves to death
That's very true, my older 12-year-old lab, came close to a 10-ft drop off by a creek, and I had to grab her to make sure that she wouldn't fall off that thing and she would have been killed. Probably I. It was very scary but she still wants to go hunting and generally she just tags along behind me. It's difficult having a 12-year-old and a 2-year-old Labrador retriever. If you have two people to sort of own them, it really helps a lot.
One of my worst hunting experiences was the day I overworked my 12 year old lab. He was having a day and went pretty hard like he was a youngster. He seemed to be having a blast doing it, I certainly was watching it. What I got that evening was something I never want to experience again. After feeding him and giving him something for pain I sat with him while he cried and suffered from being overworked. It was awful and a terribly self centered act on my part. I just loved him so much that I didn’t want to not hunt with him again. That was his last hunt and I ended up putting him down a year or so later. I can still see him looking up at me on the floor of the motel in Murdo wanting me to make it better and I couldn’t.
Yes I did leave her at the motel one day, and I felt bad about it, but I felt like she was worn out from two long days. I'm just worried that she might fall off a ledge and break a leg or something.
Yes, I completely understand that sentiment, I maybe should stop hunting my 12-year-old. That would really break her heart though.
I think at times it's better to leave them home, or take them on shorter hunts, but totally retiring them. Them I've never actually had to do that except for one time. My first lab. He just had too many injuries when he was young and he was only able to hunt until he was eight or nine. But he lived to be 12. He was a great dog, and I miss him to this day.
My 13 year old has anxiety attacks on car rides and we have to medicate her for trips, so she'll sleep through it. Her rear legs and hips are going and she has lost most of her hearing. She wouldn't get any enjoyment out of it and the risk is greater than the reward.
I'm worried that my 12-year-old might step in a hole and blow out a knee, and I wouldn't be able to carry her out of the field, I'd have to get my truck in there somehow. She weighs 90 lb s. We had a bird go down in a water And my 12-year-old wanted to go and get it.
I think they think like the line in a Toby Keith song-"I'm as good once as I ever was".
I think my older dog will still retrieve, but I have a young lab and he does all the heavy lifting.
